A/35/PV.96 General Assembly

The Albanian delegation did not participate in the vote on the draft resolu- tions contained in documents A/35/L.38/Rev.1 and A/35/L.40 and Add.l and voted in favour of draft resolutions A/35/L.39 and Add.l, A/35/L.41 and Add.l and A/35/L.42/Rev.1 and Add. I. 6. The position of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania concerning the question of Palestine and the just and only solution, as well as the means of achieving that solution, is well known and remains unchanged its statement during the debate in the General 4 .•.oly [78th meeting; paras. /07-1/81 the Albanian .egation reconfirmed. once again. that stand ana ..e considerations of its Government. The People's Socialist Republic of Albania has supported and supports the inalienable rights of the Palestinian people to establish all its national rights on its home- land, to return to its own territories occupied by Israel through aggression, to preserve its identity and rebuild its national sovereignty. The Albanian people and its Government have supported and will always strongly support the heroic resistance ofthe Palestinian people in its just and determined struggle against the Zionist aggressors and imperialist plots for the full 7. In accordance with the well-known stand of the People's Socialist Republic of Albania on the question of Palestine and the Middle East problem, the Albanian delegation voted in favour of the three draft resolu- tions mentioned. Our delegation also supports the majority of the considerations and provisions con- tained in draft resolutions A/35/L.38/Rev.I and A/35/L.40 and Add. 1, but, as we have reservations on them, we did not participate in the vote. 8. This attitude of the Albanian delegation is based on arguments we also have explained in the past. On this occasion we should like to state briefly the following considerations. Security Council resolution 242 (1%7) in our view was and remains a plot and a blow against the interests of the Palestinian and other Arab peoples. It is used to favour and justify the aggressive policy of the Israeli Zionists and the inter- ference of the super-Powers in the Middle East. 9. From the very beginning the Albanian delegation has expressed its reservations concerning some parts of the report of the Committee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People [A/35/35]. It would like also to place on record its reservations concerning other United Nations documents and the character and activities of some United Nations bodies associated with the question of Palestine referred to in the resolutions just adopted. These are some of the motives which led the Albanian delegation not to participate in the vote on A/35/L.38/Re:v.1 and A/35/ L.40 and Add.I.

The attachment of Greece to the principles inherent in the question of Palestine and its full support for the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination are well known. They have been reiterated on many occasions and are confirmed by a consistent voting pattern in the General Assembly, as was evidenced, inter alia, at the seventh emergency special session last July. 11. Of the five draft resolutions submitted to the Assembly this year, my delegation voted in favour of A/35/L.40 and Add.l, A/35/L.41 and Add.I and A/35/L.42/Rev.I and Add.1 and abstained on A/35/ L.38/Rev.1 and A/35/L.39 and Add. 1. I should like to explain briefly why. In the case of A/35/L.38/Rev.l, we are in general agreement with its contents and especially with the reaffirmation of the right to self- determination of the Palestinian people, including the right to independent statehood. But we do not think it advisable to undermine in any way the validity of Security Council resolution 242 (1967). That resolu- tion constitutes a balanced whole; it calls for the evacuation of all occupied Arab territories and recognizes the right of all States in the area to live in peace within secure borders. To tamper with it while no satisfactory alternative has been agreed upon would be to deprive the parties of a sound basis for an equitable settlement and would provide some of them 16. Draft resolutions A/35/L.40 and Add. 1 and A/35/L.41 and Add.I refer to the report of the Com- mittee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian people and the Special Unit on Pal- estinian Rights. My Government opposes those bodies and their activities, including the observances which are associated with the so-called International Day of Solidarity with the Palestinian People. We believe that such activities harm the good name and moral authority of the United Nations. 17. Finally, my delegation abstained i... th,~ vote on draft resolution A/35/L.42/Rev.1 ar Add.l , in consistency with our previous positions. 1 evertheless, the opposition of my Government to such unilateral action as that recently taken by the Knesset is well known. We do not recognize the Knesset's action as having changed or altered the status of Jerusalem. We believe that the status of the city can only be 23. We applaud those delegations which, like Malta, undertook tireless efforts in order to improve the text of draft resolution A/35/L.38. Despite that, we have serious reservations about operative paragraph I and, if that paragraph had been put to a separate vote, our 29. My delegation also abstained in the vote on draft resolution A/35/L.39 and Add.I because it prejudges the sovereign right of States to conclude treaties and to orient their actions towards the quest for the peaceful settlement ofconflicts that jeopardize interna- tional peace and security. 30. We consider that with respect to the longstanding question of the Middle East the positive side of any negotiations should be taken into consideration, bearing in mind the long period of political immobility which has characterized and aggravated the crisis in that region. We consider that any attempt or initiative that may contribute to bringing about lasting peace through dialogue or negotiations among the parties to the conflict should receive support.

In approaching the question of Palestine the Australian Government has in mind four fundamental considerations. These are: that Israel's legitimate security concerns should be recognized and respected; that the legitimate political rights of the Palestinians should be recognized and respected; that an over-all settlement of the Middle East question should be based on the principles enunciated in Security Council resolution 242 (1967), 36. If there is to be a just and lasting peace, it must be based on the recognition of the legitimate rights and concerns of both sides; the right of all States to live within secure and recognized boundaries must be openly and clearly accepted. Israel has the right to live in peace within the boundaries that are accepted by its neighbours. Equally, it is essential that we respect the legitimate rights of the Palestinians. Unless their identity as a people is realized, unless the Palestinians play their full part in negotiations to determine their future and unless their right to a homeland is recognized, there will not be peace. What form such a homeland should take, however, including its geographical extent, its status and its relationship to its neighbours, must, we believe, be determined in negotiations between the parties directly involved in the dispute. Progress towards a settlement requires that meaningful compromise by both sides be seen as attainable. To that end, the Palestinians must be given reason to believe that their minimum just require- ments can be met, or they will not join in negotiations. 37. Canada therefore opposes the establishment of Israeli settlements in occupied territories and other unilateral Israeli measures which attempt to alter the "Canada does not recognize the validity of Israel's annexation of East Jerusalem. We believe that the issue of Jerusalem, one of the most sensitive in the Arab-Israeli dispute, must be settled by negotiation in the context of an over-all peace settlement. It cannot be decided by unilateral actions. Canada will maintain its present policy and practices regarding East Jerusalem, including the avoidance of official contacts with the Israeli authorities there." 38. Unfortunately, the other draft resolutions before us today, particularly that in A/35/L.38/Rev.l, the omnibus resolution, similarly prejudge negotiations. They, too, hinder progress towards a settlement. They do little to promote understanding and essential dialogue between the parties, when to facilitate that should be the goal of the Assembly. 39. Therefore, despite our very real concern over many Israeli practices and despite our support for legitimate Palestinian rights, Canada could not support those texts. In many respects, the effect of those resolutions would be to impose a settlement that has not been agreed upon by the parties concerned. They therefore run directly counter to the framework which has been so carefully and exhaustively built up since 1967 by Security Council resolutions 242 (1967) and 338 (1973) and by ongoing negotiations. 40. In the light of what I have just said, the Canadian delegation voted against draft resolutions A/35/L.38/ Rev.l and A/35/L.39 and Add.1. We also voted against draft resolution A/35/L.41 and Add.I, dealing with the Secretariat Special Unit on Palestinian Rights, because we are not in agreement with the work programme which the resolution instructs the Unit to undertake. 41. We abstained in the vote on draft resolution A/35/L.40 and Add.I , concerning the work ofthe Com- mittee on the Exercise of the Inalienable Rights of the Palestinian People, because, while we have not supported the findings of the Committee, we accept that the Committee itself is an established part of the United Nations system. We hope that in future, however, it will work to promote a settlement taking into consideration the legitimate rights and concerns of both sides. Only on that basis can it make a con- tribution to the search for a just, lasting and com- prehensive Middle East peace.

In pursuance of Swedish policy, my delegation abstained in the vote on draft resolution A/35/L.38/Rev.l. 43. With reference to operative paragraph I of that text, I wish to express the firm opinion of the Swedish Government that Security Council resolution 242 (1967), although admittedly incomplete, and resolu- tion 338 (1973) continue to be the only viable founda- tion for a peaceful settlement of the Palestinian question and the conflict in the Middle East. We 52. With regard to draft resolution A/35/L.39 and Add. 1, the delegation of Chile wishes to reiterate its disagreement with the statement being made by the General Assembly on agreements and treaties which, freely and in all sovereignty, may be subscribed to 2 Ibid .. Seventh Emergency Special Session. Plenary Meetings. 11 th meeting. J lbid., 9th and 10th meetings. 78. Mr. NUSEIBEH: (Jordan): I have been told that in my absence the Ambassador of the United States has expressed his objections to what I said this morning in explaining my vote. If only out of sheer curiosity, and in order to sleep comfortably, I feel an irresistible urge to know what my colleague the Am- bassador of the United States objected to. I really and honestly do not know. 79. If there had been any calumnies, although there were none this morning at least, they were between myself and the Ambassador of Israel. Should the ambassador of a super-Power assume the role of an attorney on behalf of a country that has caused untold and unparalleled suffering to three to four million victimized Palestinian people? If this is the role of the Ambassador of the United States is there not an Israeli delegation here that can fend for itself? And if (c) that is the case, why does the United States so blatantly unravel its organic association with the usurper and aggressor? Crime prevention and control: (a) Capital punishment: report of the Sixth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders; (b) Sixth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders; Implementation of the conclusions of the Fifth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treatment of Offenders: report of the Secretary-General 80. My only guess is-and I am merely guessing-that I uttered some indisputable truth, and truth can sometimes be bitter. That truth was that over the past three to four years, a major' Power has given over $11 billion in direct official aid, in addition to the REPORT OF THE THIRD COMMITTEE (A/35/742)

Now we turn to draft resolu- tion 11, entitled "report of the Sixth United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the Treat- ment of Offenders" . The report of the Fifth Committee on the administrative and financial implications of that draft resolution is contained in document A/35/768. Ill. The Committee adopted draft resolution 11 without a vote. May I consider that the General Assembly wishes to follow its example?

Draft resolution III is entitled "Arbitrary or Summary executions". The Third Committee it without a vote. May I consider

We now come to the draft decision entitled "Capital punishment" recommended by the Third Committee in paragraph 31 of its report. May I consider that the General Assembly wishes to adopt it also?

The General Assembly will now consider the report of the Third Committee on agenda item 77 [A/35/72/] and take a decision on the three draft resolutions entitled " Alternative ap- proaches and ways and means within the United Nations system for improving the effective enjoyment of human rights and fundamental freedoms", recom- mended by the Third Committee in paragraph 28 of its report. 116. We come to draft resolution I. The report of the Fifth Committee on the administrative and financial implications of that draft resolution is contained in document A/35/744. A recorded vote has been re- quested.

The Indonesian delega- tion has joined the consensus on draft resoluticn Ill. However, had this draft resolution been put to the vote, my delegation would have abstained.

We now turn to the report of the Third Committee on agenda item 82 [A/35/743]. 126. The Assembly will take a decision on ':'e three draft resolutions recommended by the Third Com- mittee in paragraph 24 of its report, all three of which were adopted without a vote.

I propose that we now consider the report contained in document A/35/714 which deals with chapters of the report of the Eco- nomic and Social Council pertaining to the questions of assistance to refugees. In this connexion I shall invite representatives to speak in explanation of vote before the vote on the five draft resolutions recom- mended by the Third Committee, taken together. 131. Representatives will also be given an oppor- tunity to explain their vote after all the votes on item 12 have been taken. This is the procedure which we shall also follow for the report in document A/35/741. 141. We have on several occasions put before the relevant organs of the United Nations our views about the so-called refugees in Somalia and therefore I shall not take the time of this Assembly by repeating facts that are well documented. 132. The Assembly will now take a decision on the five draft resolutions recommended by the Third Com- mittee in paragraph 34 of its report [A/35/714]. 142. Despite my Government's repeated calls on the United Nations to verify the number, the status and the national origin of the so-called refugees, appro- pnate and comprehensive registration procedures have yet to be instituted to monitor and verify the figures given for the number of refugees as well as the status claimed for them. My delegation therefore is left with no alternative but to state for the record once again its most serious reservations on the number and nationality of the people on whose behalf aid is sought in the resolution referred to. 133. The Committee adopted draft resolution I, entitled "Assistance to refugees in Somalia" without objection. May I consider that the General Assembly wishes-to do likewise?

We now turn to draft resolu- tion 11, entitled "Situation of refugees in the Sudan". The report ofthe Fifth Committee on the administrative and financial implications of that draft resolution is contained in document A/35/769. The Third Committee adopted draft resolution 11 without objection. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do likewise? 143. In view of this Ethiopian delegation has no choice but to disassociate itself from the resolution entitled" Assistance to refugees in Somalia". 144. Mr. ADAN (Somalia): We are in favour of assistance and relief aid being rendered to people in need throughout the world, be they refugees or cate- gorized by any other name. It was in that spirit that in the Third Committee we did not raise any objection to draft resolution IV, entitled ••Assistance to dis- placed persons in Ethiopia". Our silence did not mean that we acquiesced to the presence in Ethiopia of so-called displaced persons. No statistics have so far been provided by the United Nations authorities con- cerned and therefore we cannot accept the figures given for these so-called displaced persons or even their existence in that country.

Draft resolution III is entitled "Humanitarian assistance to the refugees of Djibouti" . The Committee adopted that draft resolution without objection. May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do likewise?

We now turn to draft resolu- tion IV, entitled" Assistance to displaced persons in Ethiopia". The Committee also adopted that draft 148. My delegation requests the Secretary-General to take as a matter of urgency the steps necessary to implement this resolution, in particular by sending missions to undertake studies with a view to strength- ening adequately the capacity of the Government of the Sudan to enable it to apply the resolution and assist all the refugees who are now in the Sudan. We hope that outstanding personalities will be members of those missions and we request that specialized agencies also be represented at a high level.

We now turn to the report of the Third Committee in document A/35/741, in para- graph 92 of which the Committee recommends the adoption of 16 draft resolutions, on which the General Assembly will now take a decision. I call on those Members who wish to explain their vote before the vote.

When the Third Committee considered agenda item 12 at its 62nd meeting, my delegation supplied the following information. Last July, to prevent the occupation of the country by international extremism posing as electoral groups, the armed forces of Bolivia took over the reins of government. That change, supported by the overwhelming majority of the people, was made without bloodshed and without difficulty. On seeing its designs thwarted, and using human rights as a pretext, international extremism, through the proverbial willing dupes, unleashed a campaign of slander against Bolivia. Those in im- perialist circles who seek to impose on Latin America a pseudo-democratic servitude in the Monroe manner joined the campaign of slander against Bolivia through their second-class ambassadors and, at the same time, imposed an unprecedented political and economic blockade against Bolivia in a manner expressly con- 152. At the 79th meeting of the Third Committee we added that as from 21 November last not a single political prisoner remained in Bolivia; that the last 36 detainees had been placed at the disposal of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migra- tion and that they were leaving Bolivia with full guarantees and with the assistance of that international agency. 153. I should like to add today that on 22 November a Committee of Amnesty International-made up of a British representative and a representative from the Federal Republic of Germany and presided over by Admiral Sanguinetti, who is retired from the French Navy-arrived in Bolivia, where it freely investigated every aspect of the situation concerning human rights over a period of three weeks. 154. In spite of this open, objective and praiseworthy position of Bolivia, the Netherlands-a bourgeois trading nation whose record as a colonial Power was not very distinguished in the field of human rights- submitted to the Third Committee a document which, after having been considered without the participation of Bolivia, now comes to this plenary meeting with 8 votes cast against it and 50 abstentions. That docu- ment does not worry us, but it does call for some comment on our part. 155. A few days ago, on 10December, you, Mr. Presi- dent, spoke to us in this very hall of the many million') of human beings who are denied their fundamental human rights, of the tens of thousands of complaints that are formulated annually in that respect. It is strange that, in spite of those disquieting and over- whelming antecedents, the General Assembly of all the peoples of the earth should only find guilty and cast anathema on three small nations of Latin America, one of which is Bolivia. 156. This is encouraging. The situation concerning human rights throughout the world must be very good if the General Assembly has time to sit in judgement on the small Republic of Bolivia, where not a single prisoner remains, to which the Commission on Human Rights has been invited and to which the International Committee of the Red Cross, a delegation from Amnesty International, the representatives of the Intergovernmental Committee for European Migration and all the correspondents of the world's press who

The Assembly will now proceed to take decisions on the draft resolutions recommended by the Third Committee in paragraph 92 of its report [A/35/74/]. 161. I shall first put to the vote draft resolution I, entitled "Human rights in Bolivia". A recorded vote has been requested.

We now turn to draft resolu- tion II, entitled "Exchange of information on banned hazardous chemicals and unsafe pharmaceutical products". The administrative and financial implica- tions of that draft resolution are, contained in the report of the Fifth Committee [<4/35/769]. 163. A separate recorded vote has been requested on operative paragraph 2 of this draft resolution.

Members of the Assembly have heard the proposal by the representative of Belgium to move to the adoption of draft resolution 11 without a vote. May I take it that the General Assem- bly wishes to act in accordance with that proposal? Draft resolution Il as a whole was adopted (resolu- tion 35/186).

We shall now turn to draft resolution Ill, entitled "Refugee and displaced chil- dren", which was adopted by the Third Committee without a vote. May I take it that the General As- sembly wishes to do likewise? Draft resolution III was adopted (resolution 35/187). 168. The PRESIDENT: The Assembly will now vote on draft resolution IV, entitled "Protection of human rights in Chile". A recorded vote has been requested. A recorded vote was taken. In favour: Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Australia, Austria, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belgium, Benin, Bhutan, Botswana, Bulgaria, Burundi, Byelo- russian Soviet Socialist Republic, Canada, Cape Verde, Central African Republic, Congo, Cuba, Cyprus, Czechoslovakia, Democratic Yemen, Denmark, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Finland, France Gambia, German Democratic Republic, Germany, Federal Republic of, Greece, Grenada, Guinea, Guinea-Bissau, Guyana, Hungary, Iceland, India, Iran, Iraq, Ireland, Italy, Jamaica, Kenya, Kuwait, Lao People's Democratic Republic, Liberia, Libyan Arab Jamahiriya, Luxembourg, Madagascar, Mal- dives, Mali, Malta, Mauritania, Mauritius, Mexico, Mongolia, Netherlands, New Zealand, Nicaragua, Norway, Pakistan, Poland, Portugal, Qatar, Romania, Rwanda, Sao Tome and Principe, Senegal, Seychelles, Sierra Leone, Spain, Sri, Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Sweden, Syrian Arab Republic, Tunisia, Turkey, Uganda, Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic, Union of Soviet Socialist Republics, United Arab Emirates, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, United Republic of Cameroon, United Republic of Tanzania, United States of America, Upper Volta, Venezuela, Viet Nam, Yemen, Yugo- slavia, Zambia, Zimbabwe. Against: Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Guatemala, Lebanon, Paraguay, Uruguay. Abstaining: Bahamas, Burma, Colombia, Comoros, Costa Rica, Dominican Republic, Egypt, El Salvador, Equatorial Guinea, Fiji, Gabon, Haiti, Honduras, Indonesia, Israel, Ivory Coast, Japan, Jordan, Lesotho, Malawi, Malaysia, Morocco, Nepal, Niger, Nigeria, Oman, Panama, Papua New Guinea, Peru, 5 The delegation of Ghana subsequently informed the Secretariat it wished to have its vote recorded as having been in favour of the draft resolution, 181. That is why, in our view, the draft resolution should be adopted at this meeting of the General Assembly in the form it was adopted in the Third Committee. J82. The PRESIDENT: I call on the representative of Morocco on a point of order. 183. Mrs. WARZAZI (Morocco) [interpretationjrom French]: I continue to insist on the wording of the title of the draft resolution and also in the ninth and tenth preambular paragraphs. 184. In the Third Committee we voted on an oral amendment which had been introduced by the repre-

I think all representatives will agree with me that apparently the recollections of what transpired in the Committee when this par- ticular draft resolution was adopted differ, and I would not wish to recommend to the Assembly that it adopt or even vote on something {hat is not entirely clear. 195. My recommendation, therefore, would be that we proceed, as the representative of Ireland has sug- gested, to draft resolution IX and ask those who were 197. The _.PRESIDENT: The Third Committee adopted without a vote draft resolution X, entitled "Question of involuntary or enforced disappear- ances". May I take it that the Assembly wishes to do the same?

The Third Committee also adopted draft resolution XI without a vote. It is entitled''Question of the redesignation of the Division

We turn now to draft resolu- tion XV, entitled" Measures to improve the situation and ensure the human rights and dignity of all migrant workers". The administrative and financial implica- tions of this draft resolution are contained in the report of the Fifth Committee [ibid.] A recorded vote has been requested.

I should like to say on behalf of the group of African States, that the Group, while supporting the principle embodied in document A/35/L,34/Rev.2 concerning the question of equitable representation on and increase in the membership of the Security Council, wishes to support the proposal just made by the representative of India on behalf of the sponsors to postpone taking a decision on docu- ment A/35/L,34/Rev.2 until January 1981.

The Assembly has heard the proposal submitted by the representative of India and supported by the spokesman of the African group. May I take it that the General Assembly agrees to adopt the proposal to defer consideration of agenda item 30 until the resumed thirty-fifth session of the General Assembly in January 1981, most probably on 15 January?